The bidding began at $150,000. A guy in a blue shirt raised the offer to $160,000. A U.S. marshal warned that the auction was "going once, going twice." And then Regal Bancorp Inc. President and CEO G. Bradley Sanner really upped the ante with a $350,000 bid.
Eyebrows raised. The bankers, lawyers and consultants amassed on a Federal Hill sidewalk for the auction of the huge vessel Clipper City were silent.
And with that, Regal Bancorp., which holds the deed to the boat, outbid the only other prospective investor at yesterday morning's auction: The man in the blue shirt, who did not want to be named, said he was only willing to pay $200,000.
The 160-foot vessel, seized from its owner, who could no longer afford the payments on its nearly $750,000 mortgage, is staying in Baltimore -- for now.
"Our intent was to try to sell it," said Sanner. "So our belief was there is value in the vessel, and we can't let it go for $160,000. The trick is to find someone who really wants the vessel."
That would be John Kircher, Clipper City's owner for the past three years, who said he wishes he had a little more time to get the business -- which consisted of hosting weddings, birthdays and other celebrations aboard the 22-year-old vessel -- running at a profit. But after he failed to make the $9,500 mortgage payment for the third consecutive month, Regal took Kircher to court. And the U.S. marshal, the enforcement arm of the U.S. District Court, seized the boat, which is docked at the Inner Harbor.
"It's pretty much the stake through my heart," Kircher, who is in debt for $1.2 million, said after the auction. His first year in business he lost about $200,000, he said. This year, he said, a turnaround was in sight.
Clipper City, an ode to the famous ships that helped the nation survive the War of 1812, may not call Baltimore its home much longer.
J. Stephen Simms, a maritime lawyer representing Regal, said the bank plans to "market the ship on the international scene."
"So the Clipper could end up anywhere," Simms said.
And despite being stuck with an unpaid loan of three-quarters of a million dollars, Sanner was not really sweating it. "It's certainly manageable," he said. "We get in these situations from time to time."
nicole.fuller@baltsun.com